Another shark falls to injury

East Fremantle received a major setback last night when midfielder Jamie McNamara was ruled out of tomorrow's clash with Subiaco at East Fremantle Oval because of a quadriceps injury.

McNamara was injured in the 37-point loss to Perth last week and joins a long list on the sidelines, including key forward Courtney Johns (knee), State defender Daniel Dalby (broken arm), utility player Ryley Dunn (finger) and key forward Brent Staker (finger).

Former Fremantle squad member Dunn and Dalby are expected to miss the rest of the season, while one-time Essendon forward Johns is still sidelined with a knee injury.

Johns, who had a knee reconstruction last July, limped off early in the second quarter of the round-13 clash against Claremont at Claremont Oval on June 20.

McNamara had been one of the Sharks' best players in the first half of the match against the Demons before being injured.

East Fremantle coach Shane Woewodin said losing McNamara was a blow ahead of his team's game against the WAFL premiers of the past three seasons.

"Jamie's very important to our structure and he was terrific last week early," Woewodin said yesterday.

Woewodin refused to use his team's injuries as a crutch, but said it had played a role in the recent losses.

Early ladder leaders after winning their first four matches, East Fremantle have slumped to seventh after losing eight of their last 10 games.

"We haven't been able to get back that stability from when we had success earlier in the year," Woewodin said. "We had players in the reserves who were playing consistent, good footy who we couldn't squeeze in because we kept winning.

"In the past three weeks we have made six, six and, I think, seven changes. A lot of them have been forced."

Woewodin said Dalby's loss had been particularly hard to cover.

"Daniel's probably one of the best kicks at the footy club and using the footy from half-back is so important," the coach said.

"He was instrumental to our good form early in the year and has been a big loss."

Woewodin said one positive taken from the loss against the Demons in the last round had been the encouraging debut of All-Australian under-18s player David Swallow.

A member of WA's triumphant team, Swallow became the 18th youngest WAFL player on debut in 125 years at 16 years and 233 days.

"We thought he was tremendous," Woewodin said. "He's picked up about 18 possessions, had seven tackles and kicked a goal.

"He used the footy well, made some good decisions, didn't panic and wasn't overawed by the occasion.

"It was a terrific performance first up. There were no expectations on the kid. We just wanted him to go out there, enjoy his footy and do what he could for the side.

"He did that, which was very encouraging, and we are just looking for him to get better with each week."

-Utility player Jarrod Kayler-Thomson is expected to shake off a hamstring complaint and take his place in the Perth team against Claremont at Claremont Oval tomorrow.